Sunday, February 23, 2014

Darkmatters Review: The LEGO Movie

“If this relationship is going to work out between us I need to feel free to party with a bunch of strangers whenever I feel like it... I will text you.”

Batman

Are you the type of person who carefully follows the instruction sheet for each LEGO model you own? Does the thought of a missing piece or a freestyle creation that is completely off the instruction sheet disturb you?

Or are you a ‘Master Builder’ who can see incredible machines, awesome vehicles and madcap gadgets in any given random pile of Lego bricks? These are the two types of people who clash in The LEGO Movie – and only one can win the day…

"That's a UniKitty!"

Meet Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) an ordinary construction worker mini-figure in LEGO City who is careful to follow the instruction sheet for his life. Everything is awesome for him until one day when he discovers that he is actually ‘the special’ – the LEGO figure destined to save the world and thwart the evil tyrant, Lord Business (Will Ferrell).

Lord Business plans to glue every last piece of LEGO into place, preventing any future deviation from the instruction sheets – and stamp out any creativity for all time.

Emmet is going to need all the help he can get and that gives the filmmakers license to go wild with cameos from a host of LEGO characters from across a wealth of franchises. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, DC Comics, Star Wars, 1980’s ‘classic LEGO’ and more collide in a superb, surprisingly subversive and highly awesome adventure comedy for all the family.

"The chicks dig the costume"

The action is frenetic and the plot zips along at breakneck speed. There are visual jokes and pop-culture references aplenty and the visuals are eye-popping throughout.

Morgan Freeman leads the AAA supporting cast that includes Elizabeth Banks, Channing Tatum, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, and Billy Dee Williams (yes playing his Star Wars Lando character). It’s Will Arnett as Batman though who steals the show – but props to Jonah Hill who is hilarious as the Superman bothering Green Lantern!

If you’ve ever played with LEGO you will find something here to please you. And the clever screenplay writing of the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who you might know from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) keeps this from being just a massive product placement – although it is that too by default.

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At least some of the words posted on this blog are the property of Matt Adcock. The images however were mostly collected from the web and are shared on this blog for illustrative purposes only. If you are the owner of an image and do not wish to see it used for these purposes - please email me and I will remove it. Thank you for visiting... come back soon!?